The invention relates in general to a folding or tiltable chair or seat of general application wherever such articles are adapted for use. The invention particularly relates to a seat or chair designed for use as the front tiltable seat of an automotive vehicle or in any similar situations where it is desirable to provide a form of folding seat which can be moved quickly into an outofhe way position leaving an unobstructa clearance for entrance or egress from the vehicle or past the rear side of the tilted seat.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a. simplified form of folding seat which wi re secured in its normal position. against accidental folding or turning; which will be positively secured in such position and locked securely in position.

Another object of the invention is to provide form of securing latch which will be self ope 'ating to hold the seat in its normal position automatically as an incident of moving the seat into such position, and to provide a form of latch conrol for releasing the same which will be simple in construction and operation, which will be conveniently accessible along one of the exposed edges of the seat and which will be disposed so as to be unobtrusive and preferably concealed either by the chair itself or by the adjacent portion of the car structure.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a preferred embodiment of the invention shown in full lines in its normal, righted position and shown locked in such position, and in dotted lines shown in its tilted position released from its locked position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged showing of the lower portion of the seat shown in Fig. 1 showing the position of the parts as the latch is about to engage its keeper; and

Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation of the latch and associated parts shown in the preceding figures and with parts broken away to show details of construction.

In the drawing and referring first to the showing in Fig. 1, there is disclosed a floor or other suitable support on which is positioned a chair as the structure shown is contype The chair is supported at its front edge on a hinge mounting 14 about which the chair as whole niav mal nos 11 as shown in full lines in l swung forwardly as shown in dotted on following conventional practices in this There is also illustrated a coiled spring which teds normally to either swing chair about the pivotal mounting wha. rel-eased f latch heeinafter described or which will tend to assist in lifting and. swinging the chair into its forward, inoperative position.

seat 12 is provided adjacent its rear 1 a foot 15 which engages the support if). 501 the purpose of holding th chair in its normal position and against the turi .g action of the sprin 15, there is provided a latch l? piv oted on fulcrum pin l8 mounted in bracket secured to the frame as of the chair and positioned to one side of seat 12. The latch has its lower end beveled as shown at 21 which hereled end is designed to project downwardly recess or opening 22 formed in the support or door board 10. The lower end of the latch is of the conventional shouldered construction with the shoulder 22 designed to engage under a keeper 23 secured to the upper side of the support 10. The latch is maintained in engagement with its keeper by a coiled spring 24, one end of which is secured to the latch and the other end see red to an anchor 25 fastened to the underside of the seat.

The upper end of the latch is formed into a handle 26 disposed below the level of the seat as shown in Fig. 1, and to one side thereof as shown in Fig. 3, and designed so as to be conveniently accessible either to the occupant of the seat so that the latch may be unlocked as the occupant leaves the seat, or in the case of the device being used on an automobile, the latch and particularly its handle is preferably so disposed as to be readily operated by a person standing outside of the car and reaching through the open door to the latch handle. In operation it will be understood that with the parts shown in the position illustrated in lull lines in Fig. 1, it is simply necessary to swing the latch into position against the action of the spring 24 to permit the latch to escape its keeper after which the rear end of the seat, or the back, may be lifted or pushed forwardly assisted in those cases where the turning spring 15 is utilized. As the chair is swung from the dotted line back into its normal position, the pointed end of the latch will slide down past the keeper as shown in Fig. 2, thus placing spring 24 under tension and When the parts are restored to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, spring 24 will react on the latch to return the same into the holding position shown in Fig. l with the shoulder 22 disposed beneath the keeper.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a chair having a seat and a back rigid th rewith, means adjacent the front edge of the seat providing a hinge mounting for the chair, a coil spring at the mounting tending to raise the rear end of the chair and to swing it forwardly about said hinge mounting, a latch pivoted to the chair adjacent its rear end, a keeper secured to the support and adapted to be engaged by the latch for securing the chair in its normal position, a spring acting on the latch and tending to maintain it in engagement with the keeper and said latch provided with manually actuated control means easily accessible to the person occupying the chair.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support provided with a recess, a folding seat provided at its front edge with a pivotal mounting, at its rear edge with a supporting foot projecting rigidly therefrom, a ver tically extending latch pivoted to one side of the seat and having a pointed end adapted to project into said recess and having its upper end formed into an actuating handle disposed adjacent to and offset to one side of the seat, a keeper for the latch secured to the upper side of the support at the recess and a spring beneath the plane of the seat, acting on the latch tending to hold the same in engagement with the keeper.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chair, means provid ng a pivotal mounting for the same adjacent its front edge, a spring encircling the pivotal mounting and actmg on the chair and tending to raise and swing the same about said mounting forwardly from its normal position, a latch means spaced rear- \vardly from said mounting for securing the chair in its normal position against the tendency of said spring to turn the same forwardly and manually actuated control means carried by the chair for releasing said latch means.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chair including a seat and a back fixed relative to the seat, means providing a pivotal mounting for the chair adjacent the forward edge of the seat, a spring at the forward edge of the chair tending to turn the same about said pivotal mounting, a latch means adjacent the rear edge of the seat for holding the chair in its normal position against the action of said spring and a manually actuated control carried by the seat adjacent the back for releasing the latch means and thus permit the spring to elevate the chair.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chair, means providing a pivotal mounting for the same for causing the chair to turn about an axis of turn extending laterally across and beneath its front edge, and said chair movable about said axis of turn at the mounting when moved from its normal seated position into elevated position, a spring at the pivotal mounting tending to urge the chair into its elevated position, a latch pivoted to the chair adjacent its rear edge for securing the chair in its normal seated position, a spring acting on the latch and tending to maintain it in its operative position, and said latch provided with an upwardly extending actuating handle movable in the act of releasing the latch in the same direction as the chair moves when turning into its elevated position about its pivotal mounting.

6. In a device of the class described, the 001m bination of a chair, means providing a pivotal mounting for the same adjacent its front edge, said chair movable about an axis of turn at the mounting when moved from its normal seated position into an elevated position, a latch pivoted to the chair adjacent its rear edge for securing the chair in its normal seated position, said latch provided with an upwardly extending actuating handle movable forwardly in the act of releasing the latch and in the same direction as the chair moves when turning into its elevated position about its pivotal mounting whereby the chair be assisted in moving into its elevated position by a continuation of the pull on the handle following the releasing of the latch.